Be polite, be firm and ask for the deal they can't offer...
So I called Sky TV today, my contract with them ended months ago and I had been browsing the internet and came across and advert for the Sky Black Friday offers and decided I wanted a piece of that discount action!
It took about 30 minutes to get through to a chap that was going to help me on my quest for cheaper telly, and I have to say that he wasn't playing ball at all! Apparently I was already on the Best deal that he can offer me as an existing customer. I did explain to him that the Black Friday deal advertised on their website and on social media did state that the Black Friday deals were for both new and existing customers, and as such I would like a better deal please.. After around 5 minutes of keyboard tapping noises, heavy breathing and a general, I would like to go home now please, attitude, I was offered £5 off my current package price of just over £92 per month, for my tv and internet services... ok it's a start, but I didn't spend 30 minutes on hold, for a fiver... hell no, so I asked to be put through to the cancellation line..
40 minutes later I got through to the cancellation line, and was connected to a friendly and helpful chap. I explained that I was out of contract, wanted a better deal, or I was going to have to take up Virgin on their Black Friday deal of £79.99 per month...
The guy was really helpful, he umm'd and arrrr'd and tapped away and then offered to switch me to a different tariff, which was Black Friday deal based, and my new monthly figure was going to be £78! A pretty darn good result me thinks, that's a saving of £17 per month, or £204 per year.. but wait, I was clearly grateful, I was £1 cheaper than Virgin now, but there was still a slight feeling of not having gotten a good enough of a deal... so I thanked him and said I was grateful for the deal, but I needed a little something else, something that was going to earn me some brownie points with the fiancee....
Netflix... I asked, 'you guys always advertise Netflix as something you can now get through Sky TV as part of a package'... apparently, however, my package wasn't combinable with Netflix... but no, no, no, this was my trump card, this was my big win, I wasn't going to let it go... 'Come on', I said, it's nearly Christmas, please don't deprive my family of sitting down, with a glass of egg nog, and watching the Queen on Netflix, please don't be that grinch...
A pound, he said, I will add Netflix onto your account for £1 per month... how does that sound? I made teeth sucking noises, noises that signalled I was contemplating his offer and was weighing up if this was the win I desperately needed.... You sir, have a deal, I calmly and clearly told him, I will pay you £1 for Netflix.. sign me up...
Now he wasn't aware I was already paying Netflix £11.99 a month for it's services, but I was, so by holding out, and ever so nicely pushing for a better deal, I was now saving an additional £10.99 per month by cancelling paying Netflix and instead, by giving Sky TV my extra pound... I just saved a further £131.88 a year, so now I've saved an impressive £335.48 over the next 12 months, or being I've agreed to an 18 month subscription, that is a saving of £503.82 over the contract period! I think that was worth the cost of the (free), 90 minute call! If you don't ask, you don't get!
You can check out the Sky TV Black Friday deals here